Between Good And Evil
by tOon
Summary: Talia Ramlal once again finds her life being torn between school and her mother...... at school... she is teased and outcasted.... at home... her mother seems to be trapped in a world of sadness...... Yet Talia feels that she belongs somewhere.... away fr
1. Default Chapter Title

Chapter 1 of Between Good and Evil by tOon - The Strange Man   
  
"Ms. Ramlal, could you please endeavor your attention to the chalkboard and answer this for me?" came the Caribbean-accented voice of Mrs. Orkeson.   
  
Talia was looking out the window, she had been daydreaming again, it was a good one; She had been famous; she was walking down a red carpet in a sparkling gown, the reporters and photographers flashing cameras in her direction, her fans screaming her name begging for autographs, and her arm in a lock with a Tom-Cruise-Look-alike. Oh how she wished it to be real…  
  
"Ms. Ramlal?"   
  
"Oh, Sorry, yes I can…" She said rather nervously, she didn't usually get in trouble with teachers like that. It may have not been very significant to the teacher, but every time she got caught staring mindlessly out a window, or not paying attention in class, it felt like a stab in the back. She was always on the top of her class (Most of her classes) and wanted to keep that record.   
  
She glanced warily toward the large chalkboard. There was a pyramid of numbers, multiplication, addition, subtraction, and division signs. She studied it, thinking she would definitely not think of the answer in time. She continued to stare when it just came to her.  
  
"42?" she asked, half knowing that that was a complete random guess, half knowing that that was the correct answer.  
  
"Beautiful. Now please tell the class how you got that." Mrs. Orkeson said, with a slight look of satisfaction on her face knowing that Talia wasn't paying attention and will have to pay for her actions.   
  
Talia looked down at her notebook, it was blank, and she expected she should have been taking notes. She felt that unpleasant feeling in her stomach again, she always felt it when she was going to get in deep trouble. She couldn't just say 'It just popped into my head'. She glanced back at her teacher, feeling horrible, but suddenly she felt words protruding from her mouth, and she didn't know how they got there.   
  
"Well, 4 multiplied by 3 is 12, divided by 6 is 2. 2 to the 10th power is 1024, divided by 6 again is 256. 256 plus 4 is 260, minus 60 is 200, and divided by 8 is 25. 25 divided by 5 is 5. 5 plus 1 is 6. 6 multiplied by 7 is then… 42."  
  
The class stared at her, she would have been staring at herself too. She couldn't even believe she did that. She half expected that to happen, because she was somewhat used to unusual, unexplainable things happening. She had no idea why. Mrs. Orkeson stared at her for a moment, a look of slight shock on her face, then put her hands to her hips and yelled to the class "Well why aren't you taking notes?!"  
  
The bell finally rang. Talia gathered her belongings, and her pencil fell clumsily to the floor with a slight clatter. She sighed and reached downward to pick, except that it wasn't there. She looked up and felt her face heat up. Ted, Ted Williams, the cutest boy in all of the 7th grade had picked it up and was holding it out in front of her, smiling. She smiled back. Finally finding her voice, she croaked "Thank you" and took the pencil in her hand. Ted got up and returned to the doorway out into the busy hall. Talia resumed her position toward the door, then she felt someone prod her back, hard.   
  
"You little, lucky, …I-don't-know-what-to-call-you"  
  
Talia turned around.  
  
"Hey, Steph, who are you sitting with at lunch today?" she said casually, and smiling.  
  
"Oh my god, don't you even realize, who…who.. he gave you your pencil back!!"  
  
"I know," Talia replied, smiling even more as she and her best friend walked into the hallway. The moment they stepped into it, there was a burst of loud, talkative voices everywhere, and the opening and shutting sound of lockers.   
  
"And boy were you lucky when you looked over Tammy's shoulder, I saw you, you copied everything she had down."  
  
"No I didn't! I just knew… I …I took notes!"  
  
"Great notes, your name and date must have helped a lot," said Steph, grabbing the page out of her notebook and showing it to her.  
  
"Give that back!" Talia said, trying to grab it; Steph was holding it way over her head.  
  
"Why do you want it anyways? There's nothing on it!" Steph replied, handing it back.   
  
"I'm starting a blank paper collection."   
  
"Ha-ha," Steph replied sarcastically.   
  
Her best friend, Steph, was of course taller than her, much taller, almost the tallest in the grade. She had light brown, short, full hair. She was always so happy, it seemed like nothing could make her upset. Anyways, Talia hated to see her upset. Steph was always there for her, as she was there for Steph.   
  
"See yah at lunch!" cried Talia while waving energetically at the retreating back which was Steph. Crowds of other loud-talking students passed in the hallway, scurrying this way and that like rats. The school was always so small, too small for the over populated, one-story building. Talia put her belongings on the dusty, tiled surface of the school floor and stood in front of her blue locker. It was right at the end of the hall on a strip of others. The lockers were terribly small, she wished they would enlarge them, but she always managed to stuff her abnormally large backpack inside.   
  
She reached out to the black combo lock. '3 to the right, twice, 46 to the left, twice, 10 to the right once, and open' she thought to herself while turning it carefully. She put her fingers around the metal handle and pulled up. It didn't open. She tried again and it didn't budge.   
  
"Not again!" she shouted to herself. She tried once more, with no success. She finally just gave it a large kick, and in return, she got a throbbing pain on her large toe. "Open up, will you!" she practically yelled at it. To her surprise, she heard a click somewhere inside of the locker, and the long, thin door swung open. She stared at it for a split second, then gathered her books and binders and threw them inside the small space, that was already vacant by her overlarge backpack. She stood on tiptoe and reached into the top of the locker for her lunchbox. She took out a brown paper bag, peered inside and moaned. 'Peanut Butter again! Argh, I hate that!' she thought to herself. She threw the remains back into the bag, got the rest of the books from her locker that she needed and started on her way to the cafeteria, but heard a loud call.   
  
"Talia! Come here a moment, please," said the stern voice of Mr. Danchini, the Technical Education Teacher. Talia, praying that she wasn't in trouble, walked a bit timidly toward the Mr. Danchini. Mr. Danchini was a tall, thin, weird man. He always told the worst jokes, trying to be sarcastic, but turning out too severe.  
  
"Yes?" Talia asked, hoping not to sound rude.   
  
"Ms. Stoneson told me to remind you that the Bridge meeting will be next Tuesday, after school. You can catch the 4:00 bus to get home. I hope you can make it."  
  
"Oh! Oh, thanks for the reminder, I would have probably forgot- ." The bell rang loudly, straggling students ran to rooms, while a few of the 7th graders stayed behind, taking their time to go their lunch.   
  
"Well, See you later in class" said Mr. Danchini quickly. "Have a good lunch."  
  
"All right, see you" replied Talia, and she turned back, down the almost deserted, dim-lit hallway. Mr. Danchini had held her back from lunch, she was always late and never got to eat. She passed a few friends, smiled, and waved at them. She always felt some what awkward when she was alone, and slightly nervous. She never really liked being in the spotlight, she never liked standing out, but it just happened to her. She would always do strange things without warning, which made her quite popular. The only bad thing about it, was how she was called a freak by many. She didn't look very strange; she looked like a normal, 12 and ½ year old, except that she was a bit short. She had long, black-brown hair that flowed down to past her chest, a great natural tan she inherited from her Trinidadian mother, and dark brown eyes, that were quite pretty… in her own opinion.  
She always believed that somewhere, somehow, there was a secret…someone, or something, that was all over the world and everywhere, but no one could see it, or no one part of it could see it. She believed that she was in a fantasy world and would some day see the real world. She just didn't feel like she fit in, like she was needed somewhere else…  
  
Talia walked past the doors of the cafeteria, hearing loud talkative voices as she walked by. She never went to the cafeteria, it was much too loud for her, and too many people. Instead she would always go to the classroom at the end of the hall, right next to the cafeteria. She would sit with some other students, who agreed with her that it was more private than the cafeteria, and her best friend, Steph. The room was actually only for certain students, including herself. It was the classroom for the "Gifted and Talented" students program. Talia had been accepted into it 3 years ago and had continued going to it. The teacher, Ms. Stowneson, was an extremely nice, somewhat old, western accented teacher. Talia loved accents of all kinds, and especially loved the way Ms. Stowneson would say "Hi Y'all" when she greeted the class.   
  
Talia headed toward the door of the classroom, students were lining up for the hot lunch, which was spaghetti and meatballs today. She was glad she never bought school food, it was awful. As she got closer to the classroom, she heard a voice she never heard before, a man's voice. It wasn't very distinguishable, she wasn't that close. She wondered if Steph was in the room yet. As she walked closer, she heard the man stop talking. She continued to walk, and was about to walk right to the door when a man, the same man talking in the room she assumed, rushed out of the doorway and straight into her. There was a clatter of books and papers; Talia's and the man's belongings had toppled out of their arms from the collision.   
  
"Sorry," the man muttered as he bent down to pick up his briefcase, which had sprung open. Talia noticed in the way he said 'sorry' that it sounded British. Talia also saw that the man seemed out of place. He had on what looked like a suit and tie, but the tie looked somewhat put on the wrong way. His face didn't match his clothing, he had greasy black hair, and his black eyes were strange; it gave Talia the chills. He looked like someone from a Medieval times or something.   
  
She bent down also, and gathered her belongings, searching through the clutter of papers for what was hers and what wasn't. She felt extremely embarrassed even though she wasn't the one who caused it, really. She looked around for her pencil, it would be hard to find. She saw the end of what looked like her pencil from under her blank paper, and pulled it out. It wasn't her pencil, it was a stick. Was it a stick? It was long, straight, and smooth. She held it out in her hand and stared at it. Then, unexpectedly, the end of it sparked in a greenish sort of color. She gasped and dropped it. Was it a sparkler? She looked up and saw that the man was staring at her, with a look of astonishment. He then seemed to realize that she was staring back.  
  
"Oh sorry, that's mine," he said in his British accent, and grabbing the stick off the ground and pocketing it, he certainly didn't seem sorry. He finally looked away from her and got up, picking his briefcase off the ground. He turned around and headed toward the school office.  
  
Talia got up with her books and such in her arms, staring at the back of the man. Who was he? She had never seen him before. He was so strange, especially that weird stick that emitted sparks. What was it? Maybe he was a new teacher?  
  
She entered the classroom, and Steph was sitting at one of the long tables, eating a sandwich. Talia sat next to her and pulled out her lunchbox from her pile of books.   
  
"What took you so long?" Steph asked.  
  
"Well, Mr. Danchini had to tell me that I had another bridge meeting next week, and then there was-," she remember that the man was in this room before she crashed into him.  
  
"Steph, was there a man in here before I came?"  
  
"Yeah, why?"  
  
"What was he doing in here?"  
  
"He was speaking to Ms. Stowneson, why?"  
  
"What'd he say?"  
  
"He asked something about where the Headmaster was, dunno what a headmaster is anyways…why do you care?"  
  
"A headmaster is what they call Principles in Britain I think, the guy had a British accent, he must be from there."  
  
"What, did you hear him talking?"  
  
"No, we had a slight accident and our stuff fell, I accidentally picked up some sort of stick, and sparks came out the end of it."  
  
"What? It was probably a sparkler…"  
  
"Its not even near the 4th of July, and he's English. You think he celebrates American Holidays? And why would he bring one anyways…"   
  
"Oh, your right." Said Steph with her mouth slightly full from her sandwich.   
  
"He was weird, he stared at me when the stick shot sparks, like I was some sort of animal you goggle at in a zoo or something. And if it was a sparkler, how come the stick didn't burn up? It was perfectly fine when I dropped it."  
  
"Don't make such a big deal out of it, you'd probably think it was a magic wand or something, knowing you."  
  
Talia glared for a moment at Steph, but then joined in her laughing. How silly of me to concern over a simple stick, she thought, I'm so paranoid.  



	2. Default Chapter Title

Chapter 2 of Between Good and Evil by tOon - The Professor  
  
"Bzzzzzzzzzzz," Talia woke up, still half asleep, she hit the alarm clock with a practiced swing, making it shut off. She got off the bed, and with her bare feet, pushed away a few papers that were lying on the ground. Her room was quite small, too small for all her possessions. She climbed over a pile of clothes that was laying on the floor, and finally reached her bureau. She yanked the handle, pulling a drawer open. She put a hand in searching around for a new pair of socks, she always ran out of socks. Her hand was running along the bottom of the drawer and hit something with a different texture from the drawer. Talia pushed away some old socks, and picked up the object. Her heart lifted, she had been looking for this for over a year. It was a picture, the only picture of her father that she had. Her mother was in the picture too. They were standing on the dock of a large lake surrounded by trees. Talia had been there before, many times, it was where their vacation house was up in Maine. Talia ran a finger down the cold surface of the glass bearing the photo, along her fathers face. He was a handsome man, actually, he reminded her of Tom Cruise, or the man in her daydream. He was tall, but built, with dark brown hair, and a great smile. His arm was around her mother, she wasn't as tall as he was, she was actually quite short, but that didn't matter because she was thin and had quite a shape. She was a beautiful woman in anyone's eyes, she had flowing black hair, very long, and her eyes were almond, and she had a very dark complexion. Talia always wondered how her parents met, the seemed like such a perfect match. She put the picture on her bureau so she could see it, then put the clothes she had organized the next day on. She left to brush her teeth and wash her face.  
  
"Happy Birthday Tal!" exclaimed her mother who was washing the dishes. Her mother looked strangely different from the photo on Talia's bureau, she didn't look as happy, as though she would never be as happy as she was at that moment again.   
  
"What?" said Talia, she had completely forgotten.  
  
"Today's your birthday, Talia, your 13, you are now officially a teenager" said her mother softly.  
  
"Oh, yeah. I'm a teenager, but I don't feel any different" said Talia, sitting down for a piece of toast in the tiny kitchen.   
  
"Here" said her Mom, handing her a card.  
  
Talia looked at the cover of the card, it read:  
  
So Your Finally a Teenager....  
  
She Opened it.  
  
...Just make sure to take the trash out when your done reading this card.   
Happy Birthday from all of us!  
  
Talia forced a laugh. She didn't feel much like celebrating today. She took the 25$ check, then handed it to her mother.  
  
"Thanks a lot, put this in my account." And she pecked her mother on the cheek.  
  
"What's wrong?," asked her mother looking at her quizzically.  
  
"Nothin', why do you ask?"  
  
"You don't seem very enthusiastic that you just turned 13"  
  
"I just woke up."  
  
"Then eat something and wake up, you should be happy."  
  
"I know..." I shouldn't be happy, she thought, mom should be happy. She never knew why her mother never seemed....well ..happy...she would only assume, because of the death of her father. No one knew how or why he died...not even his own wife. He died before Talia was born, she never got to know him, yet, she loved him as though she knew him all her life. She would always ask her mother, to tell the story of how they met, it was very romantic, she thought.   
  
"I was going to College at Harvard, for writing, I was about 23 years old." Her mother would tell her to start her story. "I was young, and I was ambitious, I always wanted to be a famous author. During vacations, when I wasn't busy studying for school, I would always go out at night, to parties and clubs with my friends. That's where I found your father... he was at a club, I think it was called 'The Crow', its in Boston. The moment our eyes met, it was as though something clicked, and we knew, we knew were meant for each other. It was beautiful, we walked up to one another, and he took my hand, I didn't need to speak, and we danced." She paused for a moment, as though it was painful to remember. "We have always danced together, we knew that we were soul mates, we promised to stay together forever." She paused again, Talia thought she might see tears swelling in her mothers eyes.   
  
"We got married, of course, after I finished school, and we had a baby, not you, but ... he died shortly after birth, I had named him David, after your father. It was heartbreaking to your father.  
  
"He had a job, a job meaning he had to travel the world, he never told me what he did, he said it was for the good of me not to know, something about being protected if I didn't.. I'm not sure, I think he was afraid to tell me that I might get upset and leave him, but I would never leave him, I loved him too much.   
  
"Then he came home one day and said we would have to move to Britain, where he was born you know. He said he needed to stay there for a long time, and that he sold our house in Massachusetts, and we used the money to buy one in England. I was pregnant at the time, with you, and I really didn't want a miscarriage this time, I wanted to have a child with a perfect life, with parents.   
  
"I really did love in England, it's a beautiful country, the only problem was that he was gone almost every night, and would worry me too much.   
  
"When he did come home, he was always there for me. I would beg him to tell me where he worked that kept him busy for so long, but he would shake his head, and gently put his finger to my lips.   
  
"Then there was a time, he said he would be gone for a short time, and he would be back in a couple of days. Well he left, and he was gone. The first day, I waited, knowing he would come, the second day, I waited knowing he would come. The third day, I got worried..., the fourth day I was even more worried, the fifth day....he hadn't come home. It was than a week, he didn't come back, something was wrong and I knew it. My fears were revealed when I got a letter, a letter with no stamp or return address, saying that he had died. When he died, I couldn't pay for the house anymore, and I moved back to America and moved in with my parents, and I had to get a job to raise money so I could buy a house of my own."   
  
"You didn't need to tell me that, you know, I just wanted to know how you met," Talia would always reply, when this happened.   
  
"But it makes the story better, dear, remember there must always be a climax, with a beginning, middle and end." Her mother would say, she was a professional author now, she wrote books, but she wasn't very famous.   
  
~~~*~~~  
  
"Hey! Talia! Come here!" called Steph, Talia could see her head over the crowd of students, because Steph was so tall. Talia walked toward Steph's voice, and wasn't that surprised to see that she was holding a small package.  
  
"Happy B-day!" said Steph, handing her the package. It was rectangular shaped, but not very flat. "Open it now, don't wanna be late for 2nd period."  
  
Talia opened the package was surprised to see that Steph got her a book on how to draw comics and publish them. "Oh, thanks, a lot, always wanted one of these you know!"  
  
"No problem, come on, lets go, Ms. Sterril won't be pleased if we're late." Said Steph, pushing Talia a bit.  
  
They walked into a classroom that was at the end of the hall. Talia took her seat by the window, and Steph was a seat behind her. Talia took out her homework from last night, and placed it on top of her desk. Ms. Sterril came in, and she was smiling, but she always smiles. Ms. Sterril was a very, almost over enthusiastic about everything. She even owned a motorcycle, which was pretty cool for a teacher. She walked to her desk and stood. "Good Morning Class!"  
  
"Good Morning Ms. Sterril" said the class back, though it was very slow and very dull.  
  
"Come on, I know you can wake up! We have a guest today, show him your stuff" said Ms. Sterril as she glanced at the back of the room.   
  
A guest? Talia thought, but she hadn't seen anyone when she came in, maybe she wasn't looking. She turned around while the class was shouting "GOOD MORNING MS. STERRIL!" and her stomach gave a nervous jerk. It was the man she had bumped into yesterday, the man with the stick. She looked at him, and he was wearing something similar from yesterday, and his tie was still messed up slightly. She continued to stare, he glanced at her. She quickly looked away.   
  
"Now we need to make a grand welcome to him, he's come all the way from England! He has come to do a study on the American way of teaching..." Her voice got soft "...so you better strut your stuff..." and she winked at the class. "So please greet Professor Snape!"   
  
"Good morning Professor Snape" droned the class.   
  
Professor Snape didn't seem as enthusiastic as Ms. Sterril was, he just nodded back, and took out a briefcase. Ms. Sterril got to the front of the class, and started to write on the chalkboard. Talia seized the moment and turned around.  
  
"Steph," she whispered "That's the guy I saw yesterday."  
  
Steph looked up. "Yeah, I recognize him, he needs a good shower, don't you think?"  
  
"I don't know why, I have a feeling that doing a study on the American way of teaching is all he's here for" whispered Talia.  
  
"Who cares, as long as he doesn't take over the class, he has the kind of look that tells you he would give us loads of homework, don't want that."   
  
Talia turned around, and looked at the chalkboard. Out of the corner of her eye, she was looking at Professor Snape. He kept looking at her, she wished he would stop, she didn't like being looked at by total strangers, unless they're boys.   
  
"Now Class, can you tell me what noun would go here? It or He?"  
  
Talia raised her hand, but she often did, not like it was new to anyone.  
  
"Yes, Talia?"  
  
"It."  
  
"Yes, can anyone tell me where 'he' goes?"  
  
Talia glanced back at the man, and saw he was scribbling something down on a piece of paper with a quill. He looked up again, and again, his eyes were on her. Talia looked away, she felt very uncomfortable, what did he write? Was it something about her?  
  
Talia shook the professor from her mind, and continued to take notes, which she would need to study for a large exam. She always had anxiety over these exams. She strained her head to try to memorize all the notes she could. She always succeeded in class, not like she failed anything before, even when she didn't study, she would surprise herself with full marks.   
  
The class was finally over, and Talia left with the rest of the class. She looked back, and saw that the professor had also come out after the crowd. Feeling a bit timid, Talia quickened her pace. She turned to her locker, which was right by the classroom, and opened it. This time it worked, and opened correctly. Staring at her locker, she saw out of the corner of her eye, the man walk down the dim hallway, toward a classroom, and he went inside. Talia recognized this room, it was of a new substitute teacher, whom she never had a class with. Talia felt very curious, and was almost dieing to know what he was going in there for, A quick little peek, she thought, just to see what he is here for really.  
  
She knew she might be late for Ms. Orkeson's class, but she needed to know. She followed in the professor's footsteps and stayed just outside the door, so she could hear him speak.   
  
"I think I may have found a witch, I am definite, but why is she at a muggle school? Shouldn't she be at Hogwarts?" said the voice of Professor Snape to someone inside.  
  
"I'm not sure Severus, but you were here to find me, weren't you?, so shouldn't we be going back to Dumbledore, he sent you hear after all just to notify me," said another voice Talia didn't recognize, but it had an accent also. "but maybe you should keep an eye on the girl, if she is supposed to be going to Hogwarts.... But the quill has never malfunctioned before..."   
  
Talia registered it all in her mind, who were they talking about? Witches? Muggles? Hogwarts? Why did they call this school a 'Muggle School'. She leaned in a bit closer...   
  
"But Mundungus, she picked up my wand, and it emitted sparks, she seems like a worthy candidate for Hogwarts, I just don't see why the quill never got her name, it must be a malfunction."  
  
A strange thought struck Talia, and she slightly gasped, Wands? She had picked up that stick from him, and it made sparks, what did that mean, were they... were they talking about her?  
  
"There are more important things than looking for students for Hogwarts, we need to get back, because if you-know-who is around, anything can happen... Now if you are positive she is a witch, than maybe we can get her into Hogwarts, but that's not important at the moment."   
  
"I should talk to that girl, just to see, I think I'll tell Dumbledore also... well lets hold it off for a day, I'll see you tomorrow, Mundungus."  
  
"All right, Severus, watch out for yourself," said Mundungus, who turned to a desk and was going through papers. Snape turned toward the door, but Talia didn't know, she wasn't looking inside. She was still standing there, leaning against the wall, thinking about what she just heard, and the bell rang, she was late for class. She was about to run toward Ms. Orkeson's classroom, when she felt someone's hand on her shoulder. She turned around, looked up, and her stomach lurched. It was Professor Snape, he had seen her.  
  



	3. Default Chapter Title

Chapter 3 of Between Good and Evil by tOon - Melissa's Mistake  
  
  
  
"Excuse me, what is your name?" said Snape rather sternly, staring at her with his cold eyes.   
  
Talia knew she was she in for it, he probably saw her watching him through the door. She felt the horrible feeling in her stomach again. She wished she never heard what she heard.  
  
"Talia Ramlal, sir" she said trying to hide the fact that she was kind of scared of him. He took his hand off her shoulder.  
  
Snape looked up, as though thinking, and he rubbed his chin intently. Talia thought he was probably thinking of a way of punishing her. The silent seconds made Talia feel even more apprehensive.   
  
"All right, you may go to class," he finally said braking the anticipating silence. So he hadn't seen me listening to him talking Talia thought. She felt the queasy feeling ebbing away, but a new fear coming in. Why had he just wanted to know her name? Then she realized something.   
  
"Professor, I am late for class, I need a pass," she said rather timidly and quickly.  
  
"Fine, I'll walk you in" said Snape sounding a bit irritated. Talia directed him toward the door of Mrs. Orkeson's room, and opened the closed door. As usual, everyone's head turned toward the door to see who it was. She peeked inside and opened the door wider so that Mrs. Orkeson could see Snape.   
  
"Hello Talia, may I ask you why you're late for class?" said Mrs. Orkeson from her desk in the front of the classroom.  
  
"Sorry I'm late, Mrs. Orkeson, I was talking to Professor Snape" she said nervously.   
  
"Oh! Yes, Hello Professor, hope you enjoy your visit in the states!," said Mrs. Orkeson smiling graciously at Snape.  
  
Snape nodded, but not returning a smile, and he left to the deserted hallway hurriedly. Talia took her seat near the window, desperate for the class to end, so she could tell Steph exactly what happened. She needed to tell someone, to let out her feelings.  
  
"Will you all please turn your textbooks to page 347, we will be ending our unit on Fractions soon, and you need to study for the exam on the last day of school, which is this Thursday. I hope you are all writing this down." Mrs. Orkeson said while erasing the chalkboard with a very battered eraser. Talia made sure Mrs. Orkeson wasn't looking and leaned over to her right. Making sure no one was listening, she whispered to Steph.  
  
"Steph, I need to speak to you during lunch, its...kind of important.." said Talia as quietly as she could so she wouldn't attract anyone's attention.  
  
"What could possibly be more important than these exams!? We need to study, ah, I think I'm going to fail everything!" Steph hissed back, but keeping quiet.  
  
"What I have to tell you..." said Talia quickly as she turned back to the chalkboard. She took her pencil and began to scribble down the notes from the chalkboard as fast as she could. She was so anxious that she practically threw her pencil out of her hand because she was writing so fast. She reached down under her chair and grabbed her pencil off the dusty, dirty floor. She sighed deeply, she shouldn't be so worried. She put the pencil in front of her, in a writing position, staring into her notes. She sighed again. Snape was talking about me, that was the reason he asked me my name. What the hell is Hogwarts? And why am I supposed to go there? I mean....witches? He must be a lunatic or something She thought. She felt nervousness building up in her stomach, more nervous than she had ever felt. What was going to happen?   
  
"Talia, are you all right?" came Mrs. Orkeson's voice from what seemed like across the room, but she was only a few desks away. Talia didn't realize that she was sweating.   
  
"Oh yes, I'm fine, thank you." Said Talia as she wiped a bit of sweat from her forehead.   
  
"Are you sure you don't want to see Ms. Lei?" Ms. Lei is the school nurse, she is very kind, but you can barely understand what she's saying from her strong Chinese accent. She was very young, and somewhat nervous.  
  
"No, its all right, I'm ok," said Talia uneasily. Talia's last fear was to go to the nurse's office and get sent to the school counselor for guidance. She'd have to tell them everything, she knew better to keep it secret. Between her and Steph.  
  
~~*~~  
  
"Tell me now, I don't like waiting, I'm not very patient you know," said Steph hurriedly as the walked through the bustle of people in the hallway.   
  
"No," Talia hissed. "I need to keep it secret, now you better not tell anyone or else."  
  
"You can trust me, girl, don't act so uptight," Steph said as they walked into a much less inhabited hallway that lead the way to Ms. Stowneson's classroom.  
  
"Sorry, but it really worries me," said Talia as they reached the doorway of the classroom.   
  
"Oh shoot," said Steph with a worried expression.  
  
"What?," asked Talia hurriedly.  
  
Steph pointed to a sign on the closed door of Ms. Stowneson's room. It was a bright green paper, but written with red ink. It read in Ms. Stowneson's messy cursive:  
  
Dear Lunch Students,  
I will be absent for a couple of days, I will definitely be back on Thursday for the last day of school. Sorry, you are going to have to eat in the cafeteria for these few days. I hope it's not too much of an inconvenience.   
Sincerely,  
Ms. Stowneson   
  
"Damn, it sure is an inconvenience," said Talia sounding aggravated.   
  
"You seem ...mad," said Steph intellectually, trying to make Talia even more irritated. Talia glared at her while Steph tried to look innocent.  
  
Talia reached for the doorknob of the classroom and yanked. It didn't budge.  
  
"Oh man, we're gunna have to be real quiet in there. Anyways, let's go."  
  
Talia and Steph turned around and headed toward the open doors of the large cafeteria. It was very loud in there, everyone was talking and eating. Talia searched as hard as she could for an empty table away from everyone.  
  
"There's a good spot." Steph pointed at a rectangular table in a corner of the large cafeteria, away from the crowds of children sitting at other tables. Talia and Steph made their way through the tables and finally got there. They sat across from each other, and Talia pulled out her lunch.   
  
"So what's so 'important' and what was with you in Math?" asked Steph curiously, not touching her lunch, with her arms propped up on the table anxiously.   
  
"All right, here's the dope. You know that Professor, I think his name is Snape, well I found out somethin' about him, well not really him, more about myself." Talia took a bite of her sandwich.  
  
"What? Not him again, is it? What is it with you and ....and people. No offense or anything, but you seem to think everyone is like, a suspect in...in your lawsuit of life or something. Heh, that sounds like a good quote, doesn't it? 'Everyone is a suspect in your lawsuit of life.'" Steph chuckled.  
  
"Noo, its not that, before we went into Mrs. Orkeson's class, the truth is that he wasn't really the cause of me being late. I was kind of...doing some snooping around... and I overheard a conversation between him and some other guy, I think his name was Mundungus, He's a substitute teacher, but no one has ever had him before. Well he was talkin' to him... Steph!"  
  
"What?" Steph had put her head on her arm and was starting to close her eyes.   
  
"This is important, I didn't get to the good part yet." Said Talia angrily. "well he was talkin' to that other teacher, and he said something about this girl. That he had dropped his wand, and the girl picked it up and it made sparks. Steph...he was talking about a magic wand...I picked up that stick yesterday that made sparks, I mean that's proof enough-"  
  
"Isn't that what I said yesterday, it's a magic wand? You mean I was right?" said Steph a bit astonished.  
  
"For once, maybe....and I am the girl he was talking about! Then he mentioned this place called 'Hogwarts' that I am supposed to be going there and then saying that I was a witch or something. Then in the hallway, he just asked me for my name, and let me go to class. Strange, huh? ...Steph? Steph stop looking at me like that."  
  
"You're wack, man, tell me when you get out of your 'weird phase.'" Steph said irritably, while beginning to open her lunch.   
  
"I am NOT lying!" Talia yelled. "Come on Steph, would I lie to you?" Talia said a bit softer.   
  
"Probably, but your too nice, so I guess not. But I mean, witches? I know Salem was popular for witchcraft, but I never thought it was real. I highly doubt that you're a witch," said Steph finishing her sandwich and now licking her fingers.  
  
"You're probably right, I am making a big deal out of nothing again. I should just try to forget it," replied Talia. She started to feel better, Steph always had a way of doing that. Talia would have never calmed down without her. "Thanks, I was just over-reacting, as always."   
  
"No problem, just makin' sure that you never cross the fine line that separates ourselves from reality...that's a good quote too, lemme write that down."  
  
~~*~~  
  
Talia grabbed the small railing and pulled herself up onto the bus' stairs. She walked past the bus driver. The bus driver was a cranky old woman who hated children, but still had to drive a busload of them to school and from school everyday. She was around 60 years old and had horrible hair. She would always yell "Shut UP!" at students who were too loud. Everyone hated her.   
  
Talia tried desperately to search for an empty spot on the bus. Finally, she found one near the end of the bus, and sat down near the window, putting her backpack on the floor. She stared out the window, at the school, where the sign read "inner Middle chool " even though it was supposed to say "Finner Middle School". She looked at the building, it was ugly, and unfriendly. She wished she could go to somewhere else for school, she just hated this welfare place. As she was staring, she felt the bus starting to move, and then a drawling voice reached her ears.  
  
"Get up, Freak, that's my seat. No one sits in it but me and my friends. " it was Melissa Blanquette, one of those prissy girls with all the her popular friends. Always surrounded by a crowd. She was a blonde with perfect hair, and she always had make-up on. This time she was with someone. Talia's heart dropped to her stomach. Ted Williams was with her. Was he going out with Melissa? Melissa wasn't even that pretty, she had front teeth that stuck out at odd angles, but you could only see it when she smiled.   
  
"I was here first, so its mine, Melissa," said Talia straight-out and proudly.   
  
"I said get out, or I'll tell everyone that you think you're a witch," said Melissa back, with a look of cruel satisfaction on her face.   
  
Talia felt her face heat up with anger, Melissa had heard her in the lunchroom, and now she was blackmailing her, she also did this in front of Ted. Ted stood there, but he wasn't smiling at Melissa's cruel remarks. He seemed a bit disturbed at this comment.   
  
Talia glared at Melissa. Melissa smiled back. Talia crossed her arms and stayed put.   
  
"Fine, you asked for it," said Melissa, her smile widened. "TALIA RAMLAL THINKS SHE'S A-"  
  
"ALL RIGHT!" yelled Talia, and she grabbed her backpack off the floor and got out of her seat. Melissa immediately sat down, but Ted remained. She brushed past Ted, madly. He grabbed her arm.   
  
"Sorry..." he began to say. Talia felt tears swell in her eyes. She felt anger and sadness at the same time.  
  
"Don't feel sorry for a freak, Ted!" Talia yelled at him. She knew she shouldn't have just yelled at the cutest boy in the 7th grade, soon to be 8th, but she was too upset. She wrenched her arm out of his grip and made her way toward the front row, where it was practically abandoned. She sat down in an empty seat, threw her backpack down, and stared out the window again...when she heard a scream. She got up and turned around. Melissa was standing in the isle of the bus. There were dark red areas on her cheeks. Maybe she put too much blush on? Talia thought, but Melissa had her hands to her cheeks, she was starting to cry.  
  
"It's Burning! IT'S BURNING!" she screamed as she clutched her cheeks harder.  
She was running to the bus driver now. Ted was sitting at the edge of his seat. Talia could see he looked a bit worried. Talia looked back at Melissa who was right near her. The bus driver had stopped on the side of the road, and was putting an ice pack to Melissa's cheeks.   
  
"You mus' be allergic to duh' blush, why don' you jus' sue the company?" Talia heard the bus driver asking Melissa.  
  
"But I have been using this forever! Ow!" Melissa exclaimed.  
  
Melissa then looked at Talia and glared. Talia smiled at her, trying to look menacingly. Then Melissa said something under her breath to her. Talia could barely hear her, her lips made the shapes, and it looked and sounded like "witch".  



End file.
